Installation – Luxury Vinyl Flooring (by Locking System …

This is only a guideline for reference when installing products under the brand of FERMA FLOORING. A. General Information: FERMA Luxury vinyl flooring is designed to be floated for its installation. Floating means that it should never be nailed or glued to the sub-floor. Glue-less luxury vinyl flooring is joined together by a specially designed mechanical locking system with no adhesive being required to join the planks. This installation instruction is specified for click luxury vinyl flooring by locking system (glue-less luxury vinyl flooring). Although click luxury vinyl flooring is glue-less, it is better to store the unopened cartons for approximately 48 hours in the area where the tile will be installed. The flooring should be installed in climate-controlled, indoor locations between 68F-72F and relative humidity of 35% -55% year round. The jobsite should be cleaned and cleared of other trade apparatus that may damage an installation. All sub-floor or underlayment patching must be done before installation. Even though it is installed as a floating floor, correct preparation of the sub-floor is still a major part of a successful installation. It is required that sub-floor system is free of deflection. Sub-floor variations should not exceed 1/8" in 6' (3.18 mm in 1.8 m). All high spots must be sanded or ground smooth. Fill in low spots, cracks, and depressions. Roughness or unevenness of the sub-floor may telegraph through the new flooring, resulting in an unsightly surface and excessive wear on high spots. The installation of click luxury vinyl flooring must be conducted after kitchen cabinet or counter is installed. No flooring should be installed underneath any kitchen cabinet or counter. Otherwise, it will be treated as improper installation. Click luxury vinyl flooring could be installed over existing resilient floor coverings, wood flooring, and ceramic tile (grout joints must be leveled). Do not install the flooring over carpet. Remove all carpet before proceeding with installation and examine the sub-floor underneath. Make any repairs to the sub-floor if necessary prior to installation. Some types of nails, such as common steel nails, cement coated or some resin-or rosin-coated nails, may cause a discoloration of the flooring Use only non-staining fasteners with underlayment panels. The procedure of gluing and screwing underlayment panels is not recommended. Solvent-based construction adhesives are known to stain the flooring. All responsibility for discoloration problems caused by fastener staining or the use of construction adhesive rests with the underlayment installer. All sub-floors should be checked for excessive moisture, as to not promote mold or mildew conditions under installed product. Warranty does not include coverage for damage from mold, mildew, discoloring of product from excessive alkaline, flooding, and, or otherexcessive water issues. Moisture content of wood subfloor must be less than 14%. If the flooring is installed over concrete sub-floors directly, a calcium chloride test is needed. The maximum acceptable reading is 3.0 lbs/24 hours/1000 sq. ft. The flooring use is for indoor enclosed installations only, and it is not recommended, and has no warranty for outdoor use. If a single room is large and has a length of 45 feet and a width greater than 25 feet, an addition of a tee molding expansion joints will be required. Extra caution must be exercised when transitioning from a larger area to a smaller area. Be certain to maintain adequate expansion in the doorways by using T-moldings and/or undercutting the door frames. Never install click luxury vinyl flooring in high humidity areas where the floor is usually wet (steam rooms, bathrooms, saunas). B. Wood Sub-floor Preparation: All wood floor must be suspended at least 18"above the ground. Adequate cross-ventilation must be provided, and the ground surface of a crawl space must be covered with a suitable vapor barrier. Wood sub-floor directly on concrete or installed over sleeper construction are not satisfactory for the installation. All wood and wood composition panels are suitable for use under the flooring providing that they are smooth, flat, structurally sound and free of defection, which include plywood, particleboard, oriented strand board (OSB), flake board, and wafer board. If the surface of the wood sub-floor is not smooth, a 1/4"underlayment panel should be installed over the sub-floor. C. Concrete Sub-floor Preparation: Concrete sub-floor must be dry, smooth and free from dust, solvent, paint, wax, grease, oil, asphalt sealing compounds and other extraneous materials. The surface must be hard and dense, and free from powder or flaking. New concrete slabs must be thoroughly dry (at least six weeks) and completely cured. It is an installers responsibility to determining whether the concrete is dry enough for installation. Holes, grooves, expansion joints and other depressions must be filed, and toweled smooth and feathered even with the surrounding surface. Concrete sub-floor with a radiant heating system is not satisfactory for installation. D. Installation over Existing Floor Coverings:

The flooring could also be installed over most glued down or nailed down existing hardsurface floors, provided that the existing floors surface can be made smooth and solid. The flooring cannot be installed over any existing type floating floors.

The luxury vinyl flooring is designed to be installed as a floating floor. Do not secure to the planks to the sub-floor. Always undercut all doorjambs. Use care when installing wall moldings and transition strips to not fasten through the flooring.

If a plank becomes damaged, it could be replaced.

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Installation - Luxury Vinyl Flooring (by Locking System ...